Branco awarded county operations center project

The Greene County Commission awarded an operations center project to local general contractor Branco Enterprises Inc.

Branco submitted the lowest bid of $3.4 million out of six companies. That’s nearly $600,000 less than county officials estimated for this portion of the project. In full, including site prep, data lines, temporary utilities and equipment, the project has a roughly $5 million budget, according to a news release.

“While cost is certainly an important factor, we look at a variety of items when we consider a bid,” said Kevin Barnes, the county’s director of resource management and project manager for the operations center, in the release. “We want to work with reputable companies that understand the unique needs of the county and who have the experience to deliver projects on time and on budget. We believe Branco is the right fit for this construction.”

The 1210 N. Boonville Ave. operations center will replace a parking lot on county-owned land. The two-floor, 17,500-square-foot center will consolidate janitorial and maintenance, print shop, microfilm, mailroom and central supply, among other services, from several locations on the county’s campus.

The center will have something unique to any existing county buildings: loading docks and warehouse space, according to the release.

“This center will be a big benefit to the daily workings of the county, so it is exciting to see this project start to take shape and beat initial budget estimates,” Greene County Presiding Commissioner Bob Cirtin said in the release.

The project timeline calls for excavation work during the week of Oct. 8, site prep for four to six weeks and construction starting at the end of November. An expected completion date was not included in the release, and a county spokeswoman could not be reached by deadline.